Fluids and LubricantsMotor oil, transmission oil, radiator fluid, power steering fluid, blinker fluid... wait, there is no blinker fluid. Technical discussion and analysis of the different lubricants we use in our cars.

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How to change manual transmission fluid? Which fluid: GL-4 or GL-5? Best gear oil?

does anybody have a link where i can go to find out exactly how to change transmission fluid. 95 maxima 5spd
also, any opinions on lucas gear oil.

How to change the manual transmission gear oil on all 5-speed 1992 to 1994 VE30DE Maximas:

Here's the official FSM printout of how to do this:

It is very similar to the procedure outlined below for the 5-speed 1995 to 2001 Maximas, so it's recommended you review that procedure as well. The main thing to get out of the above picture is the gear oil capacity and the torque ratings for the drain and fill plugs.

How to change the manual transmission gear oil on all 5-speed 95 to 2001 Maximas:

well... i'm not sure, but I will check w/ the shop, but I think they put in GL-5 fluid and my shifting is really knotchy and hard to get into gear. This was after they replaced 3rd, 4th gear, and a couple synchros.

I have about 140 miles on the transmission so far and I'm planning to dump that oil and refill w/ GL-4 once I hit the 1k mi. mark on the tranny.

Originally posted by nadir_s well... i'm not sure, but I will check w/ the shop, but I think they put in GL-5 fluid and my shifting is really knotchy and hard to get into gear. This was after they replaced 3rd, 4th gear, and a couple synchros.

I have about 140 miles on the transmission so far and I'm planning to dump that oil and refill w/ GL-4 once I hit the 1k mi. mark on the tranny.

Well, is it ok for me to run the car for a thousand miles on GL-5?

I would drain it immediately. The EP additives in a GL5 lube can literally eat the softer metals found in a tranny specced for a GL4 performance level. If you like your new synchros, get it put of there ASAP.

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Originally posted by nadir_s well... i'm not sure, but I will check w/ the shop, but I think they put in GL-5 fluid and my shifting is really knotchy and hard to get into gear. This was after they replaced 3rd, 4th gear, and a couple synchros.

I have about 140 miles on the transmission so far and I'm planning to dump that oil and refill w/ GL-4 once I hit the 1k mi. mark on the tranny.

Well, is it ok for me to run the car for a thousand miles on GL-5?

Its not good for your tranny GL-4 only i think it ruins the synchros
get some Redline MT-90

I have a couple questions about changing the gear oil on my 92SE. Looking at the FSM, the picture depicting the filler plug is vague at best. I got under the car and checked it out, but there doesn't seem to be a clear choice for the drain plug. Can someone describe its location for me, or take a picture? The other question is that, not having dealt with high weight lubricants before (75W+), I was wondering if the old fluid is going to come out easily, or if I have to get it really hot and then drain it immediately. Will I need an extra qt of new fluid to "push" any remaining fluid from the casing? Thanks for any advice.

I replaced the tranny oil yesterday. Car has 76k miles on it, no idea when the fluid was last replaced. I drained and refilled, then got a chance to see the old fluid. It was black, and poured like motor oil! The new stuff, on the other hand, was golden yellow and poured like honey. I am very glad I changed the fluid. The gears shift noticeably smoother now. Thanks for the tip Jeff.

Well this quote is kinda funny" The EP additives in a GL5 lube can literally eat the softer metals found in a tranny specced for a GL4 performance level. If you like your new synchros, get it put of there ASAP." The additive package is IDENTICAL. Just that the viscosity is thicker in 5.

The FSM says to use GL4 with viscosity 80w-90 ONLY. Is 75-90 ok cause it's synthetic? It also states that for the non LSD tranny to use 9.5-10.125 pt, meaning 4.75-5.062 quarts. The lsd model uses a bit less cause I'm guesing the lsd unit takes up more space.

My Chilton book said to make sure to use gear oil rated at GL-4, but couldn't really find any around town. I finally just asked the guys at Autozone if the Mobil1 75W-90 GL-5 would be ok to use, or if it would cause problems in my car. They said it would be fine. While the tranny oil was draining, I looked at a few sites like this one and realized that it might be a bad idea to put the oil I had just bought into my car. I called the local Nissan dealer and spoke to a guy in the service department and he also said it should be fine. The GL-5 hasn't even been in my car for 2 weeks, so I wanna know if you all think I should get that outta my car, or if it will be ok to leave in there for a few years. I am hearing contradicting stories, so will someone give me a good solid answer and not just opinion to answer this question for all us MT owners once and for all. As with all of us on this site, my Max is my baby and I would hate to do anything that would harm her. A response ASAP would be very much appreciated.

I've used Redline MT-90 and Amsoil Series 2000 Synthetic 75W-90 Gear Lube and the Amsoil is superior to Redline MT-90 in all weather conditions. I live in Southern California and it can get well over 100 degrees in the summertime to 15-20 degrees in the mountains during wintertime. With Redline in my gearbox, there is an improvement vs. factory fill gear lube however on cold mornings it can still be very notchy/difficult to shift. Sometimes it may take 5-10 minutes of driving to eliminate the notchiness.

With Amsoil the shifter slips into any gear ALL THE TIME. I can shift into first gear in cold mornings above 15mph w/ ease. In fact w/ my B&M short shifter and Amsoil the gearbox shifts smoother than Redline w/ the stock shifter in all climates. I still have one unopened bottle of Redline MT-90 sitting in my storage room collecting dust and cobweb.

My Chilton book said to make sure to use gear oil rated at GL-4, but couldn't really find any around town. I finally just asked the guys at Autozone if the Mobil1 75W-90 GL-5 would be ok to use, or if it would cause problems in my car. They said it would be fine. While the tranny oil was draining, I looked at a few sites like this one and realized that it might be a bad idea to put the oil I had just bought into my car. I called the local Nissan dealer and spoke to a guy in the service department and he also said it should be fine. The GL-5 hasn't even been in my car for 2 weeks, so I wanna know if you all think I should get that outta my car, or if it will be ok to leave in there for a few years. I am hearing contradicting stories, so will someone give me a good solid answer and not just opinion to answer this question for all us MT owners once and for all. As with all of us on this site, my Max is my baby and I would hate to do anything that would harm her. A response ASAP would be very much appreciated.

The additives in GL-5 will eat away all the yellow metals in the tranny, such as the syncros. Sadly you cant rely on Nissan dealers. This dealer mechanic was adding LSD addititve to the gearbox of a 95-96 Maxima. I asked him "why?". He told me all SE models came with LSD standard . Sadly GL-4 isn't readily available but the aftermarket synthetic gear lube available are much better than the factory fill and 100000000000000x better than any GL-5 because the GL-5 is not formulated for our transmissions.

There's a place around belmont/harlem that seems to sell a lot of stuff others don't carry. They have pennzoil GL-4 but I'm not sure how good it is. Either way it's not synthetic, I don't think it is, but I'm getting it anyway.http://www.pennzoil.com/products/gea...lus8090g4.html

what about the gm syncromesh fluid, ive been reading online about it and everyone is swearing by it, any orgers use it?

I own a 3000GT VR-4 (6-speed), and absolutely EVERYONE in the 3000GT community swears by it, and we have the absolute worst transmissions in relative terms of breakdowns. I had it put in when I had my tranny rebuilt, but since I had all the synchros replaced, I don't know which is attributable to the synchromesh fluid.

I'd be interested to know the answer to this question- we need to change my GF's '97 SE tranny fluid in a bit, and I had heard that synchromesh works in all manual trannys. We had it done at the shop only like 15k ago, so I'm getting stressed that they put in GL-5 by accident... Any way for me to find out? I'll have 'em rebuild that tranny, too, if they did...

According to talkinghorse, Amsoil TGR Series 2000 75W90 is no longer available.

Quote:

I tried to place your order for the gear oil this morning, but I ran into a problem. AMSOIL has introduced a new gear oil called Severe Gear and it is a replacement for the Series 2000 product you requested. The problem is that the new oil is GL-5 rated, not GL-2 thru GL-5 as was the Series 2000 oil. Nissan recommends GL-4 for your car.

As an alternative, I can also try to order you the 80-90 GL-4 lower unit gear oil (product Code ALU)...I think that product is still available and it costs about half as much as the Series 2000 oil you wanted.

Unable to get the Amsoil Series 2000, I ordered Redline MT-90 from www.myoilshop.com. The cost for 5 qts, with shipping, was something like $37.50. I used the "dealer code" 675421 for 10% off the normal $7.00 per qt price.

My first attempt at changing manual transaxle gear oil isn't going very well. I rounded off the drain plug trying to remove it. I used a 12mm flare wrench and STILL rounded the darn thing off. Once I obtain a replacement I will try to remove the old one with Vice Grips or something.

Plan B was to remove this plug...
...which of course I broke when putting the bolt back in. I was just trying to get the bolt "snug" when I heard the crack. Obviously this bolt doesn't tolerate much more than hand tight. So, now I get to make a trip out to the Nissan dealer for a replacement.

Nissan sure as heck put the drain plug in an awkward spot. It's especially funny that they specify a torque value for tightening the drain plug, although how one would get a torque wrench on it is anybody's guess.

Oh, and the Haynes Repair Manual was a big help:

Quote:

Remove the drain plug at the bottom of the transaxle and drain the fluid.

No picture, and no advice as to exactly HOW one is supposed to remove that plug.

Well lucky that part should be only $20 or so. Bad thing is you have to drain all the fluid out again to replace it. Might was well pick up a new drain plug.

When I replaced that sensor, I had to put in the white toggle piece by brail. haha. then put the sensor itself in. But I had to move it around to get it to seat. Try to shove it in as much as possible before tightening that one bolt that holds it on

One other thing. Tracing the sensor wire up into the engine compartment, I found the connector OK, but there is no way I will be able to route the new wire back the same way as it currently is. That's not really a big issue, I just think it's interesting how that wire is routed.